U.S. slaps duties on China steel

Thursday

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is imposing new duties on imports of steel pipes from China, the latest sign of trade tensions between the two countries.

The International Trade Commission decision will affect Chinese exports worth about $2.8 billion and is the biggest steel trade dispute in U.S. history.

A group of U.S. steelmakers and the United Steelworkers union sought the duties in April, arguing that the Chinese steel industry was flooding the U.S. market with pipes sold at unfairly low prices, a practice known as “dumping.”

The Chinese companies also benefited from government subsidies, the U.S. industry said.

“The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this ruling,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement. It called on Washington to “correct its mistake” and avoid trade protectionism.

U.S. Steel, one of the eight companies that brought the complaint, said in an e-mailed statement that it is “pleased” with the decision. The company noted that imports from China tripled from 2006 to 2008.

“This enormous surge of unfairly traded goods resulted in an overhang of inventory that crippled the domestic industry,” the statement said.

U.S. production of steel pipe fell by about 70 percent in response and almost 40 percent of the industry’s work force was laid off, U.S. Steel said.

The ITC voted yesterday to impose duties between 10.36 percent and 15.78 percent on the pipes, which are mostly used in the oil and gas industries. Those duties are intended to offset the government subsidies that the U.S. government says China provides its steelmakers.

The ITC will decide in the spring whether to impose additional tariffs of up to 96 percent as penalties for dumping.

The Chinese statement said “Chinese exports of oil pipe to the United States cannot be causing injury or threats for American producers” because the energy industry is growing and demand for pipe is rising.

“The Chinese side urges the American side to face squarely the objective facts, take effective measures to correct its mistake,” it said.

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